It’s my day off and I'm at the mall having a few hours to myself while waiting for my car to be ready from maintenance service. My intention was to work on InboundRSS, as I’d like to open the service up for early access within the next few days. While this was my intention, instead I’m writing this post on my phone as my Mac isn’t charging again. Really annoying — probably time to bring it to the Apple Store , which is here on Madeira Island just a premium Apple Seller, but I think they do have their own repair guy.
Anyway, while reading through my RSS feed, the statement “Social media followers aren’t following you” stood out to me from Seth Godin’s latest post.
I've just followed about 600 accounts on Bluesky, via 4 follow clicks on Starter Packs, and I'm not engaging at all with them as I don't feel a connection, which makes me a really low quality follower for those accounts.
For me personally the question "Why I follow a particular person, business or project in the first place?" matters the most in terms of how I feel connected in following and even looking forward to content shared.
So when I read someones blog post, see their talk, read their book, use their product or met them in person, I am eager to follow them on social media (ideally on Mastodon or Bluesky) to follow along with their thoughts, updates and stories.
All the other follows are just accounts that I don't have any connection with. I might convert the one or other account over to a person I feel some sort of connection with; but normally the source of this connection comes outside of social media.
My wife on the other hand, follows (compared to my own following standards) an insane amount of people on Instagram. They are almost all doctors, therapists and other health professionals that she is very eager to follow as she gains a lot of different views for her own practice as nutritional therapist, mixed in with an healthy amount of fun and entertainment. While this looks very time consuming to me, she follows them very intentionally and it seems to make a real difference in her own personal and professional journey as health professional.
What if the value of social media isn’t about followers at all? What if it’s not about being seen, liked, or engaged with, but instead about what we, as individuals, bring to the table — our thoughts, stories, and ideas shared in a space that we don’t own but choose to participate in anyway?
Seth Godin’s post reminded me that followers don’t equal connection, just as visibility doesn’t guarantee impact. Social media, at its best, is a tool for amplifying relationships and ideas that begin elsewhere. It’s the blog post, the book, the product, or the face-to-face conversation that creates the spark of connection — not the algorithm or a follower count.
Maybe the question isn’t whether followers are truly following but whether we’re showing up authentically for those who care. Whether we’re using our limited energy and time to make something meaningful.
Social media followers might not be following, but that’s okay. The real question is, what am I choosing to create or lead?